Russia, North Korea run sanctioned worker network — SkimNews
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- Global Rights Compliance (GRC) exposed a broker network sending North Korean workers to Russia on student visas, where they are hired at military-linked factories and subjected to 12-hour days and threats.
- North Korea collects most of the wages earned by its workers in Russia, using the funds to support its weapons program, while officials from its Moscow embassy inspected potential work sites.
- Russian brokers receive up to 150,000 roubles per worker placement, facilitating a scheme that violates UN sanctions banning the employment of North Korean labor abroad.
- North Korean workers enter Russia under false pretenses, posing as students, then are contracted to Russian employers including a military rations factory, with one ad guaranteeing they would not 'run away'.
- Russia and North Korea have deepened military and political ties since their 2023 summit, with a mutual defense pact forming a core part of a 2024 partnership treaty, amid growing cooperation in labor and defense.
Why it matters: The scheme directly channels revenue to North Korea’s weapons program and supports Russia’s war economy, violating UN sanctions that both Moscow and Pyongyang are bound to uphold. With over 10,000 North Korean troops reportedly in Ukraine, this labor network adds a covert economic front to their military alliance, undermining global nonproliferation efforts.
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